BEVERLY – Who said you can only enjoy ice cream in the summer? Seasonal ice cream flavors allow you to enjoy the best frozen treat all year-round.
Ice cream shops and companies in recent years have been selling more creative seasonal flavors. Due to popular demand, Blue Bell recently brought back their ‘Christmas Cookies’ flavor ahead of the holiday season. Publix released ten limited-edition holiday flavors, some include Sweet Potato Pecan Pie, Deep Dish Apple Pie, and Santa’s White Christmas. Positive feedback has driven vendors to keep inventing exceptional flavors each year.
Treadwell’s World-Famous Ice Cream offers unique flavors, especially their seasonal options. The small shop in Peabody, Massachusetts opened in 1946. The Gould family purchased and revamped Treadwell’s in 2000, while continuing to serve their signature large portion sizes.
Kassidy, a high school senior who works behind the counter serving ice cream, explained that their seasonal flavors are the fan favorites at the moment, especially with teenagers. Treadwell’s offer Dutch apple, pumpkin, and pumpkin Oreo during the fall. Coffee Oreo is their most popular flavor overall, which is interesting because a recent study reported that 47% of consumers would like to see flavor combinations as future innovations.
Katie, a teen customer, would rather choose a seasonal ice cream flavor over a regularly offered flavor because she wants to enjoy it during its limited time. She also likes flavors that have a combination of two different flavors more than a generic flavor.
Treadwell’s keep each seasonal flavor on the menu for about two or three months, and they receive a new batch of flavors each season. “We released our fall flavors in September and we will be selling them until November. Then we will be selling eggnog flavored ice cream for the winter season,” explained Kassidy.
Kassidy believes that the next ice cream trend is going to be a sour flavored ice cream. Many customers have been requesting for one at Treadwell’s but their bosses are not sure if they can get that flavor.
When asked if she ever gets sick of ice cream working in an ice cream shop, “I’m not sick of it at all. Everyone asks me that, but I think I eat it more now because I’ll work around it all day and I’ll scoop my favorite ice cream for someone and then I want it right after,” Kassidy said with a smile.
Treadwell’s is not the only ice cream shop in the North Shore area that sells creative seasonal ice cream flavors. With seventeen shops located throughout Massachusetts, J.P. Licks has been cranking out iconic seasonal flavors that have had customers obsessed since 1981.
Phil, an employee at the Lynnfield shop, explained that J.P. Licks likes to put a twist on traditional ice cream flavors. For the fall, they are selling pumpkin cheesecake, burnt cinnamon sugar, sea salted pineapple, Vermont maple yogurt, very berry hard yogurt, and apple cider sorbet.
In the summer, they sell lemon sorbet and wild blueberry. For spring, they go more traditional, such as Moose Tracks. Each seasonal flavor stays on the menu for about a month – sometimes two if they are very popular. Phil finds out about new seasonal flavors three weeks before they are released.
Phil believes that J.P. Lick’s most unique flavor is their apple cider. “It’s frozen apple juice made into a sorbet, and you really haven’t seen that anywhere else,” said Phil.
Their sea salted pineapple flavor is also exclusive because, unlike regular pineapple flavors, it is the perfect combination of sweet and salty.
Since the company has been open for almost forty years, they know their customers’ favorite flavors, which helps them decide which seasonal flavors they should offer.
When asked if customers order seasonal flavors more over regular flavors that are offered year-round, Phil analyzed that it is about fifty-fifty. Customers order the seasonal menu more than regular options. “Regular customers come in and they know what they want, but some customers like to try new things,” said Phil.
When asked if he ever gets sick of ice cream after working around it so much, Phil replied with a laugh, “Not yet.”
As more ice cream companies join the creative seasonal ice cream trend, we can expect to see more innovative flavors offered in the future for the whole family to enjoy.